But I encountered some great deals last week and this week so I went ahead and stocked up. I have spent the grocery budget for the month and then some - $163.00. Where did it go? That great deal on hamburger last week at 80 cents a lb. This week it was deli ham for $1.25 lb. for my hubby's lunches. I bought 12 lbs. Then I encountered an unadvertised sale of ground pork for only $1.50 a lb. I stocked up. Butter was $1.99 lb. so I stocked up and stashed some in the freezer. Pure grapefruit juice was on sale for 99 cents for 64 oz.
Yes, I buy a lot of meat and I keep it in my freezer. With the prices of meat going up, when I encounter a great deal, I buy what I can fit in my freezer at that time. I triple wrap the meat and I have never had any meat get freezer burn. Right now I know that I have a year's supply of meat and I also have plenty of meat for meals to fix for church family that are sick and for other meals to give away.
What did I do to accommodate this and still meet my goal? I cut back on other variable spending areas in our budget to bare bones. I will have to be extra careful with gasoline in my vehicle. I have half a tank and I should be able to make it last to the end of the month, if I am careful. It costs $36 to fill it up so I will save $36.00 by stretching the 1/2 tank of gas.
I had planned for us to eat out on Valentine's day using a restaurant coupon but instead our Valentine's day dinner will be spent on a meal that I will fix for my family. I have some nice steaks in the freezer and as for a special treat, I am going to make my own homemade "Mounds" candy. The recipe uses powdered sugar, mashed potatoes and coconut mixed together and then refrigerated and dipped in chocolate. I have the ingredients on hand and I also will bake some butter cookies cut in the shapes of hearts. So, I should save about $20.00 there.
I saved $40.00 on paint for my entryway. I will post about that tomorrow. Just need to add that on the day I overspent on groceries, I found a way to cut back on the amount I budgeted for paint. It involved a change in color scheme, that I like even better than what I originally picked out.
There are other things I will do as the opportunity arises. But I have tweaked things enough to increase my savings another $50.00 for a total of $75.00 saved so far. My goal is $200.00.
I have to say that I didn't want to post this as it would look like a fail as to February being a No Spend Month for me. After all by the time the month is over, I will have overspent my grocery budget by $80.00. However, I am making it work. I am finding ways to cut back in other areas to make up for it.
That's what we do. We don't give up, we go to plan B and we make things work.
4 comments:
I think you are doing a fantastic job, and there is no way you could have avoided those fantastic prices. buying them now means savings later so in that respect they were a necessity.
Wont take you long at this rate to get that $200 hope Hubby gets as much of a thrill out of receiving it as you are going to get at giving it.
Until I read this post it never even occurred to me to freeze butter, does it defrost all runny ???
I think you are doing fantastic!!! It doesn't matter where you spend the money, the end result is if you can save more. I would want to stock up on those deals too! I like your idea for Valentine's Day, we are doing something similar. Instead of steaks, we are having barbequed ribs. Should be a nice evening!
Thanks for your comments. I did feel a little like a failure when I wrote this post last night, but as I re-read it and your comments I feel a lot better. I try to see the big picture when I am spending money on great deals. Must have been under the influence of paint fumes.
And Maureen, yes you can freeze butter. Just thaw it in the fridge or at room temperature and it is the same consistency as it was prior to freezing. Use it for baking or on bread - it's great.
Honestly, I *TOTALLY* would have jumped on that bandwagon and stocked up on meat too! That's an awesome deal!
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